Stars at Sunrise
by Optimus Prima
Summary: A series of drabbles following the Azumanga crew after their graduation from high school. [Various pairings, rated Kplus to be safe]
1. Courage

**Title:** Courage

**Pairing:** None

Tugging nervously at one of her pigtails, Chiyo Mihama glanced out the airplane window and took a deep, steadying breath. She knew she shouldn't be this nervous. It wasn't as though she hadn't seen America before, after all. She and her parents had visited it at least twice on holiday.

But…still, she could not quell the tight knot of anxiety that lurked in her stomach. This was different than any holiday. This was the definitive _it._ For better or worse, once she left the plane, she would be irreversibly in the middle of something new, different and altogether scary.

"Are you alright?"

The question came from the boy sitting next to her. He was a fellow exchange student – although he was from Korea, not Japan – and despite the fact that he spoke neither English nor Japanese very well, he had been able to communicate a generally friendly air to Chiyo.

She attempted to give him a smile in response, but gave up when her lips would not form one. "No," she confessed.

"Oh," the boy said, nodding understandingly. "I see. Is frightening, yes?"

"Yeah."

"I am frightened as well. But can forget about it, usually."

"Why's that?"

The boy shrugged. "Friends," he said simply.

Friends.

"You can do anything when friends love you."

Chiyo suddenly, vividly, pictured her own friends sitting on this plane. Kagura and Tomo, talking too loudly and laughing raucously at their own perceived cleverness. Yomi, sitting next to the two, pointedly ignoring them with her nose in a book. Osaka and Sakaki, both staring dreamily out of the window.

They would not let her be frightened. Kagura or Tomo might give her a punch on the arm and tell her to lighten up, while Yomi would enlighten her with a scientifically-based remedy for anxiety. Osaka would no doubt spout some random, seemingly meaningless advice. Sakaki might give a bit of stoic reassurance.

Chiyo laughed softly to herself, picturing these reactions. They were all so different, and yet…

Every single one of them would hug her. Every single one would say: "You can do it, Chiyo-chan."

And every single one would let her know that they loved her.

Chiyo smiled at the Korean boy, a real smile this time, and thanked him.

_My friends love me_, she told herself as the plane touched down. It was all she needed to know.

With that knowledge hovering in her heart and mind, Chiyo Mihama stepped off of the airplane and went forward, into the rest of her life.


	2. Cursed

**Title:** Cursed

**Pairing:** One-sided Kimura**x**Kaorin

By the time she left her first official class at Tokyo University, Kaori Aida was fairly certain that God hated her.

Honestly, there was no other explanation. What other force could have compelled _him – _the man she thought she had escaped – to quit his job at the high school and come to teach here?

When _he_ had walked through the classroom door, she had thought that it was some kind of sick joke, being played on her by Tomo or someone else who had graduated from her high school. But, no. It was really _him_. _He_ looked around the room with the same slack-jawed expression that had haunted her nightmares, and then said:

"My name is Professor Kimura. I will be your Japanese Literature teacher this year." His eyes glinted for a moment. "Hello, Kaorin."

Kaori sunk into a state of terrified, semi-catatonia for the rest of the class. Later, when she had recovered slightly, she called Chihiro on the telephone, explained the situation to her, and wailed, "WHY?"

Quite unfairly, in Kaori's opinion, Chihiro giggled. "You don't get it, do you?"

"No! I thought he liked high school girls! _Why would he come here?"_

"Kaorin, listen," Chihiro ordered, sighing, "He might like high school girls, but I think he likes _you_ a whole lot more."

Kaori wept openly.


	3. Change

**Title: **Change

**Pairing: **Tomo**x**Yomi

**Warning: **If you're offended by femmeslash/yuri/shoujo-ai, this is your chance to click the back button.

It did not take long for Koyomi Mizuhara to decide that whoever said that college was a time for new beginnings was obviously an ungodly loser.

College held no new beginnings for her. All it held was continuation of the same old cycle of going to classes, studying, doing homework, letting a few underachieving friends copy most of said homework, sleeping, and then beginning the whole thing again. She was not annoyed with the state of things, per se – she was too accustomed to it to be annoyed - but she was unsatisfied. Weren't these supposed to be the greatest, most earth-shaking years of her life? When everything behind and ahead of her magically resolved itself, and she achieved the kind of self-actualization that would make Jung jealous?

_Well, _she thought wryly as she scribbled down a proof, _that worked out just **splendidly**, didn't it?_

Even the teachers – _professors_, she corrected herself – were nearly the same. In particular were the eccentric, erratic Prof. Yori, the calmer Prof. Nanahara, and the unnerving, almost constantly slack-jawed Prof. Kishimoto, all of whom bore shades of her previous teachers. They were not exactly the same, but enough so to be aggravating.

"Yo_-miii_," Noriko Saeki whispered from her seat on Yomi's direct left, "How do I do this?" She tapped her pencil on her eraser-scarred paper in an air of desperate expectancy. "I'm really confused!"

Yomi sighed. "Here," she said, reminded forcibly of the many times she had attempted to tutor Chihiro or Osaka. "X plus Y is two A plus two B, which is two times A plus B. You got that?"

"Mm-hm."

"And that means that two is a factor of X plus Y."

"Oh!" Noriko exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "I get it, now! Thanks!"

Just like Chihiro always had.

Same old, same old.

The bell rang at that moment, and Yomi hurried to pick up her supplies and exit the classroom. She had to cross over two thirds of the campus for her next class: psychology. Although she had been late to this particular class only once, the scolding and subsequent humiliation she received from Prof. Paku was enough to let her know to never do it again.

As she exited the classroom, a hand caught her arm and spun her around until she was facing its owner. Tomo.

"Hey, _Ko_-yomi," the other girl said casually, looping her arm in Yomi's. "Will you walk me to my next class?" She flashed her version of a winning grin.

"I can't," Yomi sighed. "Sorry."

"Aw, it's okay. Just promise you'll meet me for dinner tonight, alright? My treat!"

"You have money?"

"Yep!"

"You _never_ have money."

Tomo cocked her hip. "Well, I do today, oh ye of little faith. I'm a hard-working girl, you know."

"Sure you are."

Suddenly, compulsively, Tomo leaned forward and planted her lips on Yomi's. The kiss lasted for only a second before she pulled away, still grinning. "Meet me for dinner, Yomi. You don't want to let your girlfriend down, do you?"

Okay, maybe _one_ thing had changed. But it wasn't that big of a change, anyway.


	4. Different

**Title: **Different

**Pairing: **None; Osaka-centric

Although many people had tried, no one had ever been able to label Ayumu Kasuga as either stupid or smart. As a child in Kobe, Ayumu once overheard the family counselor telling her father that it was impossible to measure her intelligence because her mind simply did not work the way a normal child's did.

"Your daughter is…different," the counselor had said. "She does not think like other people."

"So she's retarded," her father snapped. "Well, that's just gr-"

"I did not _say_ that, Mr. Kasuga."

As Ayumu grew up, that conversation replayed itself over and over in her head, until she had all but convinced herself that she was, indeed, mentally handicapped. She didn't see any other explanation for how incredibly different she was. What her peers thought was easy, she found difficult, and vice versa. What amused them was humorless to her, and she found the things that they said were trivial to be endlessly entertaining. She always studied the wrong things, remembered the wrong things, thought about the wrong things.

And then she went to college, and realized that – hey! – maybe she wasn't so strange after all.

In college, especially in her art and theater classes, a bit of spaciness was encouraged. An overactive imagination was practically celebrated. Even better, there were other spacey, imaginative, _different_ people in the college with her.

For the first time in her life, she was popular. Not just in the sense that she had a lot of friends, but really _popular_. People waved at her in the hallways. Boys she didn't know gave her presents for White Day. Other students asked her to study and eat with them. Her drama professor gushed about her to other classes.

But once in a while, she would do something so strange, so out of it, so…Osaka, that all she could do was smile and shrug at whoever had observed it, and say:

"I'm different."


	5. Best

**Title: **Best

**Pairing: **Hints of Yukari**x**Nyamo

Another school year had begun for Yukari Tanizaki. A new homeroom class had filed into her room and taken their seats, bright-eyed and smiling with a combination of excitement and nerves. She knew what they were thinking; it was the exact same thing that she had thought upon arriving this morning.

_Oh, holy hell. I'm in **high school!** _

The difference between them was that the students were thinking it excitedly, while Yukari had only barely managed to think it through an alcohol-induced mental haze.

She had staggered into the classroom seconds before her students did, hurried to hand out a list of yearly school trips, given the requisite instructions to go with said list, and then staggered back over to her desk. She collapsed in her chair and warned the students on pain of death not to wake her before very pointedly smacking her head on the desk, hoping that it would knock her out and she would be able to get some rest.

"Miss…Tanizaki," one of the students had begun, "What are you-"

"Shut up," Yukari slurred. She banged her head again, harder.

"But what's-"

"Be quiet, busybody."

The offending student, a tall and gangling girl who wore her recently-permed hair in a curly ponytail, fell silent at once, looking abashed. Yukari gave a grunt of satisfaction and closed her eyes again.

The rest of the day passed in a hazy, headachey blur. Classes were punctuated by Yukari dashing into the Teacher's Lounge for aspirins and gulps of coffee. By the time the last bell rang, she felt absolutely dead on her feet. She was ready to go back to her apartment and sleep for the next hundred years – Rip van Tanizaki.

But, of course, Nyamo located her as she was hopping in her car. Nyamo, with her cheery smile and stylish new haircut and total lack of drunkenness, Nyamo asked Yukari if she would maybe like to go out to dinner that night.

"You know, just to celebrate the beginning of the school year," she chirped. "I figured we should do something fun."

"I did something fun last night, thank you," Yukari grumped, "And I'm still recovering from it."

Nyamo sighed. "You went out and got drunk again, didn't you?"

"Yep."

"With that new boyfriend of yours? He bought you all the beer? You shouldn't let him do that, you know. It's not good for you."

"His name is _Kaji_, Nya-Nya." Yukari massaged her temples. "Look, can I just go home now?"

"Fine," Nyamo relented. Suddenly, as Yukari began to roll up the window, she stuck her hand in its path. "Wait a minute, though."

"What do you _want_, woman?!"

"Just – um – promise me something, Yukari." Nyamo bit her lower lip before continuing, blurting out, "Promise you'll come to dinner with me, not Kaji, when you feel better."

The barest trace of a smile was beginning to tug at Yukari's lips. "And why should I do that?"

Nyamo smirked, feeling her self-confidence return. "Because he doesn't know what's best for you. _I_ do."

---------

**A/N: **Just so readers are clear on this, _Stars at Sunrise_ will probably be updated every other day. I'd like to update every _single_ day, but darn schoolwork prevents me from doing so.


	6. Cop

**Title: **Cop

**Pairing: **None

When she learned that she was going to be shadowed by the Takino girl, Officer Yukie Utsumi nearly considered giving up her badge. Nothing on Earth could compensate for having to sit in the patrol car with the 'wildcat' for four hours every day, driving around and listening to the girl's incessant, obnoxious chatter. Yukie was fairly sure that she would rather die.

"Come on, Chief," she hissed to her supervisor, Keichi Ikari, "Please don't make me take her. I've seen her in the Criminal Justice classes, and she's a complete airhead."

Ikari sighed. "Tomoko is a bit…erratic, it's true, but thus far she has the highest grades in the entire department. She may not act like it, but she knows what she's doing. That's why we're having her do on-the-job shadowing so early."

"But _Chief_-"

"You'd do well not to argue, Utsumi. You'll be training Tomoko Takino, and that's that."

Thus, Yukie found herself – rather unwillingly – in the patrol car at seven that night, waiting for Tomoko outside of the dormitory building. It was almost seven fifteen when the girl dashed out of the dorms, pulling on her shoe and yelling some kind of garbled apology to Yukie. Yukie sighed but pasted on her strictly-for-trainees smile anyway. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe she was just being – what was it Ikari always said? – pessimistic about the whole thing.

_Maybe pigs can fly_.

The Takino girl threw open the passengers' side door of the car and slid in, nearly falling over herself as she did so. With gusto borne of nerves and excitement, she slammed the door and threw her hands in the air. "Whoo-hoo!" she shouted. "Let's go bust us some crooks!"

Yukie flinched. As she started the car and drove them out of the parking lot, she wished with all her might that this was some kind of horrible dream. If this Takino girl was the highest-achieving student in the Criminal Justice department, Yukie was fairly sure that her own faith in humanity had just been demolished.

She explained to Tomoko in a forced monotone that there weren't any criminals that needed 'busting' at the moment. If there were, they would get a call on the police radio.

"Oh, I knew _that_," Tomoko said derisively. "But we're definitely gonna do some busting tonight, right?"

"Maybe," Yukie replied, trying to sound as noncommittal as possible.

They drove in silence for a long while before Tomoko finally spoke again.

"So," she said, "When we find the criminals-"

"_If_ we find the criminals."

"Yeah, if we find 'em, do you want to be Mel Gibson or Danny Glover?"

Silence. Then, from Yukie, "_What?!?_"

"Oh, you know. It's like in those _Lethal Weapon _movies. Do you want to be the good cop or the bad cop?"

Yukie sighed in frustration. "I don't know, Tomoko. I don't honestly _care_."

"Yay! I totally call the bad cop!"

Another silence followed. Yukie was beginning to wish she had just turned in her badge when she had the chance. Nothing in the universe was worth this.

She persisted in this line of thinking until her radio began to crackle with static and it was announced that a gun fight had broken out in the lower regions of the city. Yukie and Tomoko were needed at the scene as fast as humanly possible. Inwardly, Yukie cursed the bad luck of having to do something as serious as this with someone as unprofessional as Tomoko.

That was, until they arrived at the crime scene, and Yukie realized that the so-called wildcat was not unprofessional at all. Tomoko jumped out of the car like a seasoned officer, apprehended the remaining perpetrators in a matter of about fifteen minutes, gave them the legal shtick and run-down, and was back in the car in no time.

Yukie could only stare in unabashed amazement. When Tomoko noticed her gaze and demanded to know what was up, she managed to stutter: "You – you're a _good _cop!"

Tomoko pouted. "But I wanted to be the bad one!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

**A/N:** I usually try to avoid making original characters like Yukie, but I found it exceedingly difficult to write from Tomo's POV and thus had to create someone to observe her. For clarification, Yukie's name is pronounced YOO-kee-AY.


	7. Fast

**Title: **Fast

**Pairing: **Kagura**x**lotsa angst

Himeko Kagura did not come into college expecting to receive good marks. She had been an academically underachieving child since birth and was not about to change. In all honestly, it would have been overly foolish and optimistic to think that anything would be different, and Kagura did not know herself as a foolish _or_ optimistic person.

However, she had not expected…this.

She was failing at least half of her classes. The sports teams were full. She had no friends outside of the few she knew from high school. Her professors obviously hated her, although most of them hid their disdain behind carefully cultivated airs of superiority.

All in all, college was awful. Kagura, never one to get too emotional, often found herself crying in the middle of the night, waking up with a wet pillow and the salty taste of tears fresh on her tongue. She was ashamed of herself. She hadn't come here expecting to have the time of her life, but she also hadn't expected to be miserable.

"Honestly, Himeko," her mother scolded her over the phone, "You could at least apply yourself. College isn't very hard if you work at it."

"I know, Mom," Kagura said softly, "I'll try to do better, okay?"

But she didn't do better. She did worse. She slid deeper and deeper into herself until she was sure nothing could pull her out.

The only thing left for her was running.

Late at night or early in the morning, Kagura would slide out of bed, get dressed as quickly as possible, and quietly slip out of her dorm. She jogged across the college campus until she reached the nearby park. Then, after slowing down for a moment, she would break into as fast a sprint as she could muster. The world whizzed by in a blur of nighttime colors, punctuated by the odd street lamp. Kagura's feet slapped the pavement in steady, rhythmic motion.

She loved to run; loved being sure that she was going forward and going fast. As long as she kept up the pace, she was happy.

It was nice, knowing that she was moving too fast for her troubles to catch up.

----------------------

**A/N: To conclude this installment I'd like to give a huge shout-out to all of my reviewers. Thank you so much, NotoriousNumbnut, for reviewing since the beginning, testyoutestyou, SeekerAstria, and mosiesk for your well thought-out comments, delusionment, Lesser Master and Weener1 for leaving nice reviews, and Kiyori-chan for being a totally awesome IRL friend. You guys brighten my day! **


	8. Love

**Title: **Love

**Pairing: **Sakaki hearts animals. What else is new?

Within their first few months of college, everyone at the small Hokkaidon veterinary school wanted to know what Sakaki's secret was. Leaning across their notebooks during class, or pulling her over to sit with them at dinner, they would grin and say, "C'mon, Miss Sakaki. Tell us. Are you magic or something?"

Sakaki would blush deeply and reply that, no, she was not magic. Being a good student hardly constituted magic, after all. All it constituted was dedication. But the other students wouldn't listen to her.

"Yeah, right," they said. "_I_ study hard and you don't see me anywhere near the top of the class. You're – what? – the third-highest scorer in our year already."

Sakaki blushed even more, but refused to change her argument. _She_ believed it, even if no one else did.

And _no one else did_. They treated her like she was some kind of child prodigy, like Chiyo-chan. When the professor's asked for a volunteer to come up front and demonstrate something, or when they wanted a student to help them on the job, the whole class would shout: "Sakaki!" It was strange and, in a way, thrilling to have them think so highly of her, but it was also embarrassing. She wasn't _that_ good, really.

But there was something that maybe, just maybe, could constitute the other pupils thinking she had a secret. And that something was _love_. She loved veterinary work. She loved animals, and she especially loved helping them. She made sure that she was careful and precise and did everything right – but not for the sake of good grades.

Sakaki made sure she did well for the sake of the animals.

Her secret was love.


	9. Serious

**Title: **Serious

**Pairing: **None

College in America was everything that Chiyo had known it would be and, in a way, that was comforting. She had known that it would be rigorous – though not as rigorous as Japanese schools – and it was. She had known that it would be a bit frightening, and it was. This kind of knowledge, this kind of assurance, was enough to keep her steady throughout the day. Chiyo Mihama had always been a girl who liked to _know_ things.

The one thing she did not know before coming to college, although she probably ought to have guessed it, was that her classmates absolutely refused to take her seriously.

She had to admit that it was a little strange for a thirteen-year-old, pigtail-wearing Japanese girl to be going to college, but _really_. The moment she walked into her first class, the first pupil to see her burst into high-pitched tittering and demanded to know where Ashton Kutcher was. When Chiyo asked who that could be, the boy laughed harder and said, "Well, we're being punk'd, aren't we?"

Chiyo thrust out her chin in an adorably ineffective fashion and replied, "No. I'm here to study."

The boy continued to laugh as she took her seat, and later in the class she caught him rocking back and forward, convulsed with giggles. She was not a spiteful person by nature, but this was enough to give her temper a bit of a prod. She hoped that her roommate would at least be a little better.

Said roommate sort of was, but in some was definitely was not.

"Ah!" She squealed upon seeing Chiyo, literately clapping her hands together in excitement. Her permed, dyed-pink hair glinted in the outdoor sunlight. "You are so _kawaii_!" She exulted. "_Chiyo-chan no kawaii desu!" _

It took a moment for Chiyo to realize that the girl was speaking very poor Japanese. She smiled nervously, not sure whether to respond or just let the girl go on.

"_Watashi wa Arnold Emily-chan!"_ the girl exclaimed.

Chiyo let out a little nervous laugh. "Um...hello, Emily," she said civilly.

Emily squeaked with delight. "Oh my God, you are adorable! You have to tell me _all_ about Japan. I _love_ Japan. The only thing I ever watch is anime and J-Horror. And I play Final Fantasy sometimes. Isn't Sephiroth the most bishiest bishie to ever walk the Earth?"

Chiyo was about ready to start tearing her own hair out, but she smiled anyway.

So what if her classmates wouldn't take her seriously? So what if her roommate wouldn't take anything seriously?

When they needed help deciphering the professor's lectures, they would _seriously_ be begging her for it.

**A/N: Nabeko-tan loves reviews! **


	10. Matter

**This one jumps a little backward in the timeline, so just bear with me, dear readers.**

**Title: **Matter

**Pairing: **Chihiro**x**Kaorin

**Disclaimer: **_The Human Pork Chop, Audition, _and _Strange Circus_ are all real movies. I am actually kind of glad that I don't own any of them.

--

So, Miss Sakaki didn't love her.

In a way, Kaori had always known, though for most of high school she had absolutely refused to believe it. She had _adored _Sakaki. She had practically _worshipped_ her. Surely, her high-school-age brain had insisted, that must mean something. Right? If she was able to show Miss Sakaki just how much she meant to her, the other girl might just reciprocate those feelings.

She didn't, however. For a while, Kaori was crushed. During the summer before college, she did little more than sit around her home and mope, occasionally leaving the house in order to drive her little sister around town. Her sister, Ai, did happen to have a driver's license, but she was terrified of using it.

"I'll crash!" She wailed when Kaori brought it up. "I'll crash and the car will explode and I'll _die_!"

So, Kaori drove Ai around all summer. It wasn't fun, but it kept her occupied. The season passed in a blur of trashy pop songs on the radio and quiet, building anxiety in Kaori's stomach. She knew she couldn't keep up like this forever.

_But I'm perfectly willing to_, she thought guiltily, and knew it was true.

In late July, she received a phone call from Chihiro. The two had barely spoken all summer, so Kaori was a bit surprised to find out that she hadn't totally driven her friend away with her abject wallowing.

"H-hey, Chihiro," she stuttered into the receiver. Most of her social skills seemed to have vanished.

"Hi!" Chihiro chirped. "Listen, school starts in about a month, and I was thinking that maybe the two of us could get together before it does. You know, for like a sleepover?"

"O – oh, really? That sounds – um – that sounds like fun."

"I know! So, you want to come over to my house next Friday? We can just rent some movies and hang out and stuff."

Kaori found herself almost surprised to be cheered up by Chihiro's perkiness, and even more surprised to hear herself saying, "Yeah. Friday sounds good. I'll come."

She spent the next week fretting over herself, trying to undo the damage that a summer's worth of self-neglect had caused. She went out and got her hair cut stylishly. She bought new clothes. She drank about ten cups of green tea each day, wanting desperately to shed the five pounds or so she had gained. When Friday finally came and she was driving to Chihiro's house with her overnight bag, Kaori didn't exactly feel like she used to, but she felt a whole hell of a lot better than she had for most of the summer. Her friend didn't seem to notice anything different, however, and they spent most of the evening chatting happily with each other while watching a host of increasingly bizarre horror movies.

"So," Chihiro said at midnight, as she popped _The Human Pork Chop_ out of her DVD player, "I haven't really seen you around this summer. What've you been doing?"

"Not much," Kaori confessed. She was sitting on Chihiro's couch with her knees drawn up to her chin. "I've been kind of…depressed."

"Really? Why?"

"I told Miss Sakaki how I felt about her, in May. She said-" Kaori hesitated, feeling her eyelids begin to sting. "She said she didn't feel the same."

Chihiro's whole face seemed to soften. In the blue glow of the television, Kaori saw her friend's mouth turn down, her eyebrows move apart, and her eyes fill with sympathy. After a moment, Chihiro said, quietly, "I'm sorry for you, Kaorin."

Kaori let out a choked little giggle. "It's okay. I mean, it was kind of silly for me to even think that she would – you know-" She broke off as tears bean to stream down her cheeks. She attempted to speak again, but the only sound that came out was a wet gurgle.

Chihiro stood up and walked over to the other girl, sitting down next to her and wrapping protective arms around her body. What they were protecting Kaori from, it was hard to say.

Kaori did not know how long she cried. All she knew was that when she stopped, Chihiro was holding her hand and whispering, "It's okay, Kaorin. Don't be sad."

Kaori gave the hand a grateful squeeze and smiled at her friend. "Thank you."

They sat together for a long time, hand in hand, almost silent, until Chihiro suddenly said, "So, d'you want to watch _Audition _next, or _Strange Circus_?"

"Uh," Kaori stuttered, taken off guard, "I dunno. _Audition_, I guess. Isn't that the one by Miike?"

"Mm-hm."

Chihiro pulled her hand from Kaori's, and for a moment Kaori wanted to snatch it back. Luckily, however, the other girl returned quickly to the couch and reached for Kaori's hand again. Kaori took it, feeling a wave of happiness flood over her.

So, Miss Sakaki didn't love her.

As long as she was with Chihiro, it didn't really seem to matter.


	11. Know

**Title: **Know

**Pairing: **Tomo**x**Yomi

Koyomi wasn't a romantic enough person to say that she was in love with Tomo, per se, but she was definitely perceptive enough to tell that there was something more than attraction in their relationship. She had seen attraction in action, and it was not a happy thing. What Kaorin had for Sakaki, what Ouyama had for Chihiro – that was attraction, and it ended with both of the people involved feeling jilted and often embarrassed.

Attraction was like the bare bones of a relationship, no muscles to make it move, no flesh to keep it padded, no skin to hold everything in. It was usually one-sided, and it usually had no sense of logic. Given proper care, it _might_ be able to grow into something more, but most of the time it did not.

Yomi had been able, over the course of her life, to define almost every kind of love she encountered – but still, her feelings for Tomo baffled her. She couldn't fit them into one of the prerequisite categories that she had assembled. When she had first begun to think about this kind of thing, around sixth grade, she had been happy to think that Tomo loved her like a sister and leave it at that. Yomi did not actually have any sisters and thus did not really know what 'sisterly love' entailed, but television gave her a general enough idea that she could say, "Oh, yes, Tomoko Takino and I love each other like siblings. How splendid for us."

Throughout middle school, her ideas had shifted but mostly remained the same. She was happy with that.

In high school, however, she had begun to feel the way most girls feel about those they have special connections with. Almost embarrassed, she looked more closely at Tomo. The other girl was not pretty, but she was 'cute' in a certain, off-kilter way. She swung her arms when she walked. Despite her constant disparaging of herself, she had a nice, slender figure.

_This is lust_, Yomi thought to herself, even as she blushed. _Physical desire._ She did not really consider lust a form of love, but the two usually had some degree of concurrence.

Over the years there were more forms of love, more definitions, but each one lasted for only so long. Her relationship with Tomo was seemingly fluid, retaining a form only long enough for her to recognize it before it changed. Quite honestly, it was enough to drive her insane.

"I don't _get it_," she said one night, as she and Tomo walked through Tokyo's East Gardens. "I mean, like, what do we feel about each other, exactly?"

Tomo blinked. "What?"

"It's just that I can't figure out what you and I have together," Yomi sighed. "Are we just attracted to each other, or is it a kind of sibling-love thing, or-" She found herself cut off by Tomo's sudden, loud laughter. "_What_?" She asked, irritated.

Tomo giggled for a moment or two, then smiled crookedly up at her girlfriend and said, "Jeez. Way to overanalyze."

"I'm not over-"

"Yes, you are." Tomo said coolly. "We are in _love_, Yomi. That's all there is to it."

"But what kind of-"

Tomo silenced her with a finger pressed against her lips. "Who cares what kind it is? It's a good kind, and that's all either of us needs to know."


	12. Horrors!

**Title: **Horrors

**Pairing: **None

Late one night, Ayumu Kasuga stumbled out bed due to a loud, insistent scratching coming from the central area of her dorm. Still half-asleep, she was able to make no connections between the sound and anything else, nor could she conjure up any real sense of fear or foreboding. It was scratching. Whoo-hoo. Big deal.

Upon reaching the room from which the scratching came, Ayumu looked around, rubbing bits of sleep from her eyes as she did so. Nothing _looked_ out of place. There was the television, with her roommate's stack of Akira Kurosawa films on top of it, a Nintendo GameCube hooked up to the front. Next to the TV was the moth-eaten couch, and next to _that_ were the vibrantly colored, polka-dotted bean-bag chairs that looked like they had been teleported straight out of the eighties. All normal.

The scratching continued.

Ayumu was turning around, ready to go back to bed, when her foot connected with something on the floor and she tripped. She hit the carpet with a soft whump, smacking her forehead.

Looking back to see what she had tripped over, she recognized a small, brown suitcase that she had brought to college and never fully unpacked. It was her 'memory' suitcase, full of the scrapbooks and other tokens of high school that she and her friends had spent a good part of the summer putting together. Inside were pictures, letters, an odd wooden carving of some catlike creature that Sakaki had made…a lot of things, but certainly nothing that should make a _scratching _sound.

Not totally aware of what she was doing, Ayumu pulled herself up, leaned over the suitcase, and began to lift the lid – and froze.

The papers and pictures were gone. The wood carving was nowhere to be seen.

Inside the suitcase were two small, bright orange pigtails, moving restlessly around the interior of the case, scraping the sides and bottom. When they caught sight of Ayumu – pigtails couldn't _see_, could they? – they turned themselves in her direction and spoke.

"Hi, Osaka," they squeaked, wiggling in a gesture of greeting.

Ayumu's jaw dropped.

"We got tired of Chiyo, so we followed you here!"

Ayumu was still screaming when she woke up.

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**A/N: **Since the review reply feature doesn't seem to be working, I'm going to respond to your wonderful comments in this space.

**Incanto:** I never really thought about change as a form of death, but now that you've mentioned it, it makes quite a bit of sense. The goal of this story is to show the girls growing up and becoming adults, and in order to do that I suppose they have to let go of what they've always known. Even if certain things do come back to haunt them :P

Also, yes, you nailed both of the in-jokes. Yukari and Nyamo _are_ quite a bit like Ritsuko and Misato, aren't they? Only without all the mindwarp-ery going on all the time.

**Kiyori-chan: **Relax! There _will_ be het pairings in this story. I promise.

**NotoriousNumbnut**: Yeah, I thought Yomi was the type. I'm glad you liked it!

**testyoutestyou: **Thanks so much for your feedback! I'm not going to pair up all six characters – that seems a like overdoing it a bit - but I will take into account your request for a Kagura pairing. Never fear!

**Weener1: **Haha. Thanks ever so. :D


	13. Breathe

**Title: **Breathe

**Pairing: **None

The thing that fourteen-year-old Minamo Kurosawa hated most about Tokyo was the air. It was thick and too hot during the day, and by the time the sun was beginning to set as she walked home from cram school it became somehow oily and actually suffocating. Minamo could not fathom how so many people could breathe it all the time. Maybe native Tokyo residents had some kind of genetic mutation that allowed them to take this stuff in their lungs and not feel like they were choking. Minamo, on the other hand, was a farm girl recently come from Kuruzo-cho, and as such had never even comprehended the existence of polluted air.

Early on, she resolved not to breathe it. On the way to and from school – and any other time she was outdoors - she held her breath for as long as she possibly could. She didn't really know if she was trying to prevent the unhealthy air from entering her body or simply making a statement against Tokyo itself, and she didn't really care. It felt like an important thing to do, even if it was only important to her.

It probably looked a little strange, though. One day, as she was walking home from school with the classmate with whom she shared a duplex, said classmate let out a small giggle and asked, "What are you _doing_, Nyamo? Your face is going purple."

Minamo blushed and didn't feel like explaining. The classmate was a girl named Yukari Tanizaki, a self-proclaimed rebel with dyed-blonde hair and a nose ring, and probably the person most likely to laugh if Minamo told her the reason. Minamo said nothing.

Yukari persisted, though, and finally Minamo had to give in. When she explained, Yukari did not laugh, but raised a single eyebrow and remarked: "That's pretty damn stupid, you know that?"

Minamo blushed even more deeply. She knew she must look a terrible rube. "Well, yeah," she stammered, "But I just-"

"Even if the air stinks, even if it's totally gross, you've still gotta breathe it," Yukari continued. "Otherwise, you'll die, you genius."

Later in life, Minamo speculated that maybe that was the point when she had realized that Yukari actually was smart, instead of a slacking little numbnut. True, she had always had low grades in school, and, true, when she began to teach school, she sometimes ditched her own classes.

But, really, there was no substitute for someone who you taught that, no matter how scared you were, or how much you hated your new surroundings, you still had to breathe.

------

**I am **_**so**_** sorry I didn't post yesterday – I had to go out of town to visit my friend's sister and do some shopping with my mom. I beg your forgiveness. grovels**


	14. Compete

**Title:** Compete

**Pairing:** None

When she saw the person standing under the lamppost at exactly the beginning of her normal jogging path, Kagura's first reaction was shock. She hadn't thought that anyone else came to the park so late at night; that was part of the reason that she came. Her second reaction was a short, shameful spark of happiness, a sort of feeble wish that maybe one of her friends had come to visit her. It would have been so perfect, in a sappy-teen-movie kind of way, to find Sakaki or Osaka waiting there for her. To have one of them turn around, throw their arms out for a hug, and say, "Hey, Kagura! I heard you were feeling down!"

But that kind of thing only happened in LifeTime movies, and Kagura did not live in a LifeTime movie. The person under the lamppost was not Sakaki or Osaka. In fact, Kagura realized with a bit of a start, it was a _boy_. She could see only his back, but could tell that he was tall and almost girlishly slender under his jacket and running shorts.

"Um…" she began nervously. The weeks of near-isolation had done nothing for her conversational skills, and she found herself straining to remember what social expectations applied to this scenario. Should she leave, and let this boy do whatever he was doing? He had been here first, after all.

_Yeah_, she decided, _that's what I'll do._

"I'm just going to leave, now," she offered feebly. He didn't react, and she was beginning to wonder if he could hear her at all. Probably not, but who really cared? Kagura was taking a step back, ready to go, when the boy spoke.

"You run out here sometimes, don't you? You're Himeko Kagura?" He asked. He sounded vaguely amused.

Kagura was so stunned that it took her a moment to respond. "Uh – yeah. That's me."

"Good," the boy said. He cast a look at her over his shoulder and for a moment, she saw his whole face. It was sharp, narrow, and a bit long, with arching eyebrows and an almost overlarge forehead. He was smiling an oddly slanted smile. "D'you want to race me?"

"Why?" Kagura sputtered, very confused and beginning to become annoyed. "Who _are_ you, anyway?"

"I'll tell you if you win." He stuck his tongue out at her. "Besides, isn't that what you like to do? Run?"

Maybe he sparked her competitive nature, or maybe she was just itching for a challenge anyway. For whatever reason, Kagura agreed to race him. She found herself standing almost numbly at the lamppost, going robotically through a few quick stretches.

"Aaaaaand," the boy said, obviously enjoying himself quite a bit more than was necessary, "_Go!_"

They took off running at the exact same time, feet slapping the concrete path. It was a rare thing for Kagura to note another runner's form, but even she realized that this boy really was exceptionally good. Not as fast or graceful as Miss Sakaki, maybe, but definitely _good._ Kagura grinned despite herself. She had missed having actual competition for quite some time.

_Enough time for that later_, she scolded herself. _For now, focus on winning._

And win she did. With her lungs bursting and her heart pounding, she sprinted past the lamppost again, only a few feet in front of the boy. She laughed and triumphantly pumped her arm in the air. "Yes!" It felt so good to have finally _won_ at something, after so many weeks of failure, that she actually felt tears prickling at the corners of her eyes.

The boy was laughing, too, albeit much more softly. He approached Kagura and stuck out a hand. "That was very good, Miss Kagura," he grinned. "I'm Kazu. Tomokazu Seki."

Kagura took his hand and shook it, trembling slightly, "It's – uh – it's nice to meet you, Kazu," she panted. "I'm Kagura – well, you prob'ly already know that. Um…how'd you know I'd be here?"

That same, strange smile stretched his features. "I'll tell you if you beat me again."


	15. Understand

**Title: **Understand

**Pairing: **None

Even though she often found herself jealous and more than slightly bitter toward the other trainee, Keiko Onuki had to admit that Tomo Takino was a good cop while she was on duty. The problem was that she didn't _stop_ being a good cop when she was off duty.

"Hands up!" Tomo shouted at one of their classmates when he arrived late to a lecture. She put her hands together, forming a gun shape, and pointed them at said classmate. Eyes narrowed and intense, she yelled: "Bang! You're dead!"

The classmate looked terrified.

On another occasion, Tomo was seen leading her friend – what was her name? Ayame? Ayane? Something like that – away in a pair of handcuffs, waxing serious about something inconsequential until the harried-looking Officer Utsumi ran up to them.

"What are you _doing_?" She asked, sounding more exasperated than surprised at her charge's behavior. "And where did you get those?"

Tomo's friend, seemingly oblivious to the policewoman's annoyance, turned her large, sleepy eyes toward her and drawled, "I'm…gettin' arrested."

"What _for?_"

"For being a numbnut!" Tomoko declared, shoving a fist in the air. Officer Utsumi promptly wrestled the handcuffs away from the two of them, scolded them, and stormed off. Keiko could not help but be vastly amused.

One day, as she sat next to Tomo in the Happy Lion, a restaurant close to their university, Keiko found herself asking the other girl, "Don't you think you overdo this cop stuff?"

Tomo blinked. "What?"

"You get _way_ overenthusiastic about it sometimes, is all. Like, maybe you should tone it down or something."

The other girl's eyes widened, and for a moment Keiko thought she might have made her angry. "What should I do instead?" Tomo demanded. "_Under_-do it? Or halfway-do it?"

"Well, I dunno, maybe-"

"I can't afford to do anything but overdo it!" Tomo exclaimed, waving her arms in the air. She then completely flew off the handle, launching herself into a nearly incomprehensible tirade and finishing with a satisfied, "Police work is _serious business_!"

Keiko decided to just give up. She would never understand Tomoko Takino – few people would – and, strangely enough, she was almost glad of it.


End file.
